Rafael BenÍtez issued an impassioned plea to stay on as Liverpool manager yesterday as the board met in New York for talks aimed at restoring off-field stability to the club.

The breakdown of BenÍtez’s relationship with Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, Liverpool’s American owners, has attracted most headlines in a turbulent few months at Anfield, but the greater priorities at yesterday’s meeting were how to refinance the £270 million loan with which they bought the club last February and the latest designs for a proposed new stadium in Stanley Park.

The meeting in New York, which ran late into the evening, was regarded as critical to the club’s long-term future and to the Americans’ hopes of delivering on the various promises they made when they bought the club 11 months ago.

BenÍtez’s future is known to be bleak after the events of the past six weeks, with the Spaniard seemingly certain to leave his job at the end of the season, but Hicks, Gillett and Rick Parry, the chief executive, were more concerned yesterday with resolving various critical issues off the pitch.

After their spectacular redesign of the stadium was dropped last month because it was too expensive, they examined presentations from two architect firms yesterday and also sought to settle on a business plan that would enable them to refinance their original loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland, which expires next month.

Back on Merseyside, BenÍtez tried to distance himself from weekend reports that he had “told friends” that he expects to be sacked at the end of the season. Although he is known to be pessimistic about his prospects of staying at Anfield beyond this season, BenÍtez feels that a private conversation with Sunday newspaper journalists last Friday was taken out of context and is distressed that it has led to suspicions within the club that he regards himself as a lame-duck manager or that he is already looking for a new job.

“I was shocked when I was told about the stories in the Sunday papers and when I saw them for myself, I was even more surprised,” BenÍtez said. “I don’t know how many times I have to say I only see my future at Liverpool Football Club before certain people believe me, but I will say it again because it is really important that everyone understands this - I love the club, I love the fans, I love the city and I am very, very happy here. I do not see my future at Real Madrid or Inter Milan or anywhere else. I see my future at Liverpool, and this is where I want to stay.

“I want to completely commit myself to Liverpool Football Club. I do not see my future anywhere else because I do not want to go anywhere else. I want to win trophies for my club, for our fans and for the people, and I still believe we can do this.”

BenÍtez has at least been allowed to wheel and deal in the January transfer window, with the £6.5 million signing of Martin Skrtel, the Zenit St Petersburg defender, likely to be followed by the sale of Mohamed Sissoko to Juventus for a fee in the region of £10 million. BenÍtez hopes that he will be allowed to sign a left back with some of the proceeds from the Sissoko sale.

The Mali midfield player is eager to join Juventus, having been frustrated at his lack of first-team opportunities since signing a new long-term contract in June. “For now, I’m under contract to Liverpool, but I expect some exciting news in the next few days,” Sissoko said. “I feel I need a new challenge and an opportunity to prove my worth on the pitch.”